Australian airports 'not good enough', Sydney the worst says ACCC

A report into Australia's airports says there has been an increase in the number of people using Australia's airports, but service is only making marginal improvements.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's (ACCC) latest report that monitors Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth airports shows profit margins have been boosted.

However, while earnings are up, only Brisbane Airport has received a good rating for service from the ACCC, while the three others were rated as satisfactory for the second year in a row.

The annual Airport Monitoring Report for 2012-13 says passenger numbers increased by 1.9 per cent, to 21.6 million people, during that period.

It also found that Brisbane Airport has the second highest car parking revenue relative to total airport revenue, and the second highest car parking revenue per car park space.

Perth Airport posted big increases in the cost of parking, with an eight-hour park rising 41.5 per cent to $22.

It also posted a 15 per cent increase in the cost of parking for three-hour and one-day parking.

However, Sydney Airport still has the most expensive short-term parking for one hour, at $16 compared with $14 in Brisbane, $12 in Melbourne and $6 in Perth.

ACCC chairman Rod Sims says the airports are making more money as a result of rising prices and demand.

"What consumers and airlines are finding is the quality of service is still not really improving - it's only rated as 'satisfactory', which we need to question whether that's good enough," he told the ABC.

"And also we still are seeing rising congestion, so there's a concern about whether we've got too much just in time investment, whether indeed investment is trying to stay ahead of the demand rather than following the demand," he told the ABC.

Congestion, baggage and parking main gripes

The ACCC says information on service quality is taken from responses to surveys of passengers, airlines and border agencies, and from data collected by the ACCC. The 'overall average quality of service' measure is calculated as an average of these ratings.

"The two main gripes I think from travellers are the delays and congestion that they find, be it circling in the air waiting to be able to land, be it waiting to get access to a bay so a plane can get unloaded, or delays on the apron, these are concerns we get from the airlines in particular but also passengers," Mr Sims said.

"Passengers experience issues around baggage delays, and their overall feel for the airport and, of course, you have the perennial issue of car parking costs which is always something that passengers complain about, and that's understandable - the margins the airports are making on parking are very high, on average around 70 per cent, so 70 per cent of what you're paying is really going to the airport margin."

The ACCC says Sydney Airport's overall quality of service was again rated the lowest among monitored airports.

Passengers' ratings remained unchanged at 'satisfactory', and airlines' ratings were lower in the 'poor' category.

Sydney Airport says it has maintained its passenger satisfaction ratings even after passenger ratings increased to their highest level in a decade.

"We're pleased that our investment in services and facilities has been recognised by our 38 million passengers a year, with passenger ratings for the standard and availability of services and facilities increasing," Ms Mather said.

"During the period, our airline partners identified some areas for improvement, such as further apron capacity development.

"Accordingly, we've now completed three new aircraft parking bays, upgraded two existing aircraft parking bays and upgraded to our sixth A380 gate, with further airfield development underway to meet demand and deliver improved operational performance."

The ACCC has been given the task of monitoring the performance of the nation's four biggest airports until 2020.

The Australian Airports Association (AAA) says the major airport operators are making significant investments in airport infrastructure .

"At the outset, it should be noted that well over a year has already transpired since the ACCC's collection of data and the publication of this report," said AAA CEO Caroline Wilkie.

"The ACCC's findings provide an historical snapshot of the state of our major airports, given the extremely dynamic nature of the aviation industry and the ongoing investment being made in better airport infrastructure.

"It's an indisputable fact there has been tremendous growth in domestic and international aviation over the past decade in Australia, and elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region.

"Naturally, this results in higher revenues for airport operators as airport charges are levied per passenger."